A filling system of the type mentioned has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,016 B1. To make it possible to fill liquid anesthetic into an anesthetic evaporator, a bottle adapter is necessary, which establishes the connection between the storage container for liquid anesthetic and the filling device at the anesthetic evaporator. A collet, which has two grooves for receiving an index collar arranged at the neck of the storage container, is provided at the bottle-side end of the bottle adapter. The index collar has an anesthetic-specific design, so that only the bottle adapter fitting the storage container can be screwed on the thread of the bottle.
An anesthetic-specific coding in the form of two projections, which are arranged offset in relation to one another at an angle and which engage corresponding openings on the filler neck of the filling device, is likewise provided at the neck of the bottle adapter.
The outlet pipe of the bottle adapter is closed by means of a spring-loaded adapter valve, so that no anesthetic vapor can escape into the environment. A corresponding filling valve is provided at the filling device. A stationary bar, whose length is selected to be such that the adapter valve can be opened when the adapter neck is introduced into the filler neck of the filling device, is located in the middle of the filler neck. The interaction between the bottle adapter and the filling device is designed such that the filling valve opens first and the adapter valve opens thereafter. Liquid anesthetic can then flow from the storage container into the tank of the anesthetic evaporator.
The drawback of the prior-art filling system is that the stationary bar, with which the adapter valve is opened, and the filling valve are connected to one another as one assembly unit and can therefore mutually affect each other. In addition, the design of the valve is relatively complicated.